Persuasive+Writing+Unit

Persuasive Writing Unit

In this unit, you will learn:

**Connotation and Denotation ** Activities/assignments: · [|What is chicken?] · [|Group activity: Car names] >>  · [|The Cockroach]
 * [|CNN Car Name Article]
 * [|Naming Cars]

**Art of Persuasion: Speaking and Writing** (pages 187-202) · Find three examples of persuasive writing (editorial, cartoon, advertisement, etc.)
 * "Gettysburg Address" (Abraham Lincoln)
 * "I Have a Dream" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
 * "On the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr." (Robert F. Kennedy)

**Examples can come from the newspaper, a magazine, or an** **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">online source such as [|The Denver Post] or another online **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">newspaper. Make sure you go to the "Opinion" section. **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">On a piece of paper, answer these four questions for each of your three examples:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. What is the issue?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">2. What is the point or the argument the author is trying to <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">make?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">3. Does the author make an effective argument? Is it convincing?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">4. What would you change to make the argument or arguments <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">more effective?

**<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Point of View ** <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Activities/assignments: · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">[|Little Red Riding Hood] · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Fact or Opinion? · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">“Gettysburg Address” (pages 187-190)

**<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Persuasive Techniques ** · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Bandwagon, Testimonial, Transfer, Repetition, Plain Folk, Otherness, Mass Marketing to a Subculture, Collective Memories, Humanizing Technology, Strong Women

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Persuasive Techniques in action:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Video: "Profiles of Courage, Controversy and Sacrifice: WWII Homefront"

· <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">[|World War II posters]

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Poster Questions:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. What is the poster's message? Is this message conveyed <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">mainly with art or with words?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">2. Who is the message for?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">3. What colors are used on the poster? How do they help "shade" <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">the message?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">4. What symbols are included on the poster? Are they negative or <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">positive symbols? Are they weak or powerful?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">5. Is the poster successful in promoting its message? Why or why <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">not?

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Group activity: propaganda posters · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">“Titanic” (loaded words) · <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">“Homeless” (emotional appeal, tone

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">The Great "Whatever" Ad Campaign

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Letter to the Editor